Before the Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act as implemented by the Environmental Protection Agency has been one of our nation’s most successful laws – a jewel in the crown of American Democracy. Before the EPA there was no legal or regulatory mechanisms to protect our air or our water – and filthy industry practiced treated our skies and water as cesspools.

The photos below taken from the fiftes through the mid-seventies remind us vividly why the EPA serves a crucial purpose. The idea that we would dismantle clean air and water protections is scandalous – and one need only look back to see what a future without environmental protections would look like.

Next to the U.S. Pipe plant – a heavily polluted area of Birmingham, Alabama – residents face industrial smog. July, 1972 (LeRoy Woodson)

Clark Avenue and Clark Avenue Bridge in Cleveland, Ohio. Looking east from West 13th Street, area obscured by smoke from heavy industry. July, 1973.

Peabody Coal Company in the Black Mesa area of Northeastern Arizona. 1973